Bike couriers have seen a severe fall-off since the downturn and, with little support, they face an uncertain future
SINCE THE beginning of the downturn there has been plenty of coverage on the impact it has had on white-collar business. There has been a 41 per cent rise in architect unemployment up to March of this year and conveyance, a key area for solicitors, has virtually collapsed. Just as these industries are the victims of problems in other areas (in this case the property crash), they have precipitated a crisis in another less well-reported one – bicycle couriers.
Shuttling papers such as legal documents and architectural blueprints around cities became a backbone of the messenger industry during the boom. Now the bicycle courier is an endangered species, pushed out by a combination of price wars among larger companies, and too many couriers for too few jobs.
With an increasing squeeze on incomes, a lack of security and a drop in business – worse during the summer, as many companies take holidays – the number of couriers has dropped.
From close to 200, there are barely 100 messengers on Dublin’s streets at the moment, according to Graham White, co-founder of Velocity Couriers who, along with other couriers, sees a return to a different era on the cards: “In the mid-1990s, it was definitely more of a working-class job. In the last five years or so, it became a middle-class thing, more a choice than a necessity. Now it seems to be going back to a job for people who can’t get anything else.”
White has been a messenger since 1995 and watched the Celtic Tiger take hold of Ireland and of the industry.
Like many messengers, he started working in college, then fell in love with the life. “I’ve had a few sabbaticals,” he says. “Just when I got really pissed off and thought, ‘I’ve got to try something else’, but after a few months of doing anything else I’ve just had to go back again.”
In September 2008, he and partner Chris Grieve opened Velocity Couriers, a green business (no cars, e-mail invoices, their office Dublin’s streets).
Andrew Thompson, a bicycle courier for 18 months, echoes White’s motivation: “I just like cycling. That’s pretty much it.
“I like being outdoors and am lucky enough that I can make a living from it. I’ll never be wealthy, but it’s enough to get by.
“Before, I had a decent job, working 9-5 and living for the weekends. Now I don’t really drink that much anymore, I just work. I’m very chilled out and relaxed.”
The problem is that couriers still need to pay all the same bills as everyone else. Couriers are usually employed as sole contractors, meaning that companies aren’t obliged to provide the same benefits as with PAYE workers.
“It’s another grey area,” says White. “They’ve exploited that for many years as well. We’re technically contractors, but they pay your taxes and fulfill most of the criteria of you being an employee. But you don’t get any of the benefits of sick pay, holiday pay or anything like that.”
Another courier, who has been working in the industry for several years but declined to be named for this article, recounts a joke: “What do you call a courier with no girlfriend? Homeless.”
According to White, messengers earn roughly 30 to 40 per cent of what a client is charged per job. Some companies offer a “basic” contract, which assumes a minimum earning level, but most of the larger ones never have. Increasingly, messengers are earning a percentage of nothing, as courier companies wage a price war to win clients.
“Unfortunately, the larger companies started to use the pushbikes as a loss leader, to maintain van accounts, so prices dropped completely,” says White.
“It’s tough. There always seems to be someone out there who’s cheaper. Because we’re so small, it gets to a point where we can’t compromise our prices any more. It’s just not worth our while.”
Velocity revised their strategy to find a niche: “We had a look around Europe and saw that cargo bikes were gaining in popularity and no-one had done it here. So we bought a couple from Copenhagen. At the moment, our biggest clients would be print companies, so we’d be moving A4 copy boxes. We carry up to 60kg and don’t get stuck in traffic so we can be there quicker. We don’t have any overheads, so we’re generally 30 to 40 per cent cheaper than using a car. It ticks all the boxes, but the problem is getting people to use us.”
If a messenger does become ill or is injured on the job, options are few. There is an emergency fund, distributed by the International Federation of Bicycle Messenger Associations (IFBMA), which offers help.
“You’ll get $300, or €300 or whatever the currency equivalent is, to tide you over for a week – pay your rent, help pay medical bills and so on. That’s it. You get no help from anywhere else,” says White. Another courier agrees.
“Couriers do get jobseekers’ allowance, but their stamps do not qualify them for jobseekers’ benefit.”
There may be hope, at least for those still standing when the economy finally recovers.
“Maybe, in a year or two, if things stay the way they are, there will be fewer people on the road,” says White.
“Perhaps that will force the companies into looking at it a bit differently. Maybe it’ll mean that the few of us who are out here can earn a decent wage, for a change.”